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Moving to Birmingham

I am considering relocation from London to Birmingham. My DH brothers live in Birmingham and my sister lives in Manchester so we are thinking of Birmingham as it has a quicker commute to London if DH needs to work. I Would like somewhere in easy reach of a train station and ideally M6 (visiting sister and nieces). Also the place would need to be child friendly, with lots of activities, as I have a 6month old and nice schools as I am a primary school teacher and would potentially go back to work in September. Finally, I would like a house and garden as I have always lived in a flat.

I have been told by DH's brothers that edgbaston is a good place...would you agree?

I know there have been a few threads about this which I have read and investigated info but if anyone has any more ideas that could help me that would be great.

I moved to Birmingham about 6 years ago. We initially rented in Harborne which is a lovely area - but very expensive to buy so we moved to Cotteridge (Bournville borders).

Harborne is a great place if you can afford it - lots of bars and restaurants (child friendly) but the nearest station is University which is a little walk away.

We're in Cotteridge now which is full of young families who can't quite afford Bournville! It's decent, has good transport links and has a gorgeous park run by the community. The train station (Kings Norton) is very close, as is Bournville station - they're both on the Cross City line. Schools seem pretty decent round here but obviously Birmingham is a grammar school city so I think they'r emore variable at secondary. Sadly lacking in pubs round here though!

Kings Heath and Moseley are also nice areas - transport links are a bit crap IMO.

Edgbaston is a bit of a funny one - I don't really class it as an "area" as such. It doesn't really have a centre and varies from nasty, horrible red light districts to gorgeous mahoosive houses. You'd need to look carefully.

To the north of the city, people seem to favour Sutton Coldfield but I'm not a fan. Ditto Solihull to the East - very popular but although it has a John Lewis I just don't get it!

I would say rent first then buy. You really need to choose a school for your child, and catchments are getting ridiculously small. The birth rate has gone up by 25% in bham, and there are not enough school places.Edgbaston 'proper' is nice, and if you're selling in London you'll probably be able to afford something nice there.Not really any maintained schools there though (Chad Vale is the only primary in Edgbaston I think)

Thanks for all your information. It has made my search on right move a lot more productive .

The bournville/cotteridge/Kings norton/stirchley area does look very nice and there are some reasonable rents available as definitely need to rent first to find my feet and friends. As DH and I only moved to current flat 3 wkd before LO was born and not really felt like part of the community yet...but hoping that as we both spent part of our childhoods further north (stoke area) a return would be good

Fingers crossed it all works out...if you think of anything else or others have more to add that would be great

Try Halesowen, it's on the Birmingham/Dudley border but is a very nice area with fantastic schools. It's in very easy reach of the motorway, and the commute into Birmingham city centre is about 20mins on a good day. Local to me there are 6 primary schools (2 faith schools), 4 secondary schools, and we have the Edgbaston grammar schools only 15 mins away. Loads of green space too!

But if you're looking for birmingham propper then Bournville/ Harbourne are beautiful areas.

Unemployment is high here- highest in the country I think atm (12.8%) so you may need to factor that in.

I agree that one of the 'villages' would be better for community feel and groups etc- Bournville, Harborne, Moseley, Cotteridge, Kings Heath etc all have loads going on in them, but being a city you can be as chummy or as aloof as you feel like!

These areas all have good parks too, plus the Botanical Gardens and the Nature Centre in Cannon Hill Park are great for small children.

You really do need to give consideration to schooling. If you're using state schools, then you need to be aware that Bournville Infant has specific roads that make up the catchment, which I think is unique in Birmingham (? maybe Chilcote too??) but they list the roads on the school's website, whereas the others all go on distance (unless faith school of course, of which 1/3 of schools here are!), and distances are getting very very small in some areas of the city.

If you're thinking independent, then for Blue Coat in particular you'll need to get her name down very soon. The others, you can probably wait 12 months or so.

Another vote for Harborne if it is affordable for you. It has some excellent state primary schools and is a 10 minute cycle ride to University station for journeys from new street (or the other central stations) to London. Also a great high street and not too far from some child-friendly green spaces. Good luck with what you decide.

Yes, another vote for Halesowen, my parents live over that way, there are some nice areas around there, and the school my brother goes to is excellent. Easy to get to Birmingham, and quite leafy and green

I lived in Birmingham for fifteen years and moved away last summer. I agree that Edgbaston isn't really an area - there are some beautiful roads with real mansions, some of which are divided into semi-affordable flats, but there's no "centre" or high street. If I could see you, I would be able to tell you instantly whether you would like Harborne or Moseley/Kings Heath better - they have very different personalities! I lived in Moseley and was very happy there and my son was in a great primary school - but if we moved back I would go to Kings Heath, you get more house for your money! Moseley/KH are on the 50 bus route into the city centre, which has buses every few minutes. Feel free to pm if you feel like it.